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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Did you have a planned cut off time for breastfeeding?

52 replies

suzi2 · 31/01/2006 22:08

I always said that I hoped to do it for 6 months and then stop after that. Thanks to fab support (here and at home), I will reach my 6 month target on Saturday. Now though, 6 months doesn't seem long enough and I've upped it to a year. Did anyone else have cut offs in mind? If so, did you meet them?

OP posts:

WigWamBam · 31/01/2006 22:10

No, I just planned to feed for as long as it felt right. If I got to 6 months then great; if 12 months then brilliant; if not then so be it.

I managed 2 years before dd decided she didn't want it anymore.

dinny · 31/01/2006 22:11

2 years... but ds is 17 months and am wishing he would at least cut down a bit.

Spidermama · 31/01/2006 22:12

I never planned any cut off dates with any of my kids. They all self weaned smoothly and gradually between the ages of two and a half and three and a half. I'm feeding a one year old now and I'm presuming it'll be a similar story.

SorenLorensen · 31/01/2006 22:12

I didn't with ds1 - I just thought I'd carry on for as long as he and I wanted to. In the event, he just stopped at just over a year old.

So then of course with ds2 I had "a year" in mind as my shiny goal (so as not to treat him differently to his big brother) - but I only made it to 8 months with him.

rupertthewanker · 31/01/2006 22:13

tabitha · 31/01/2006 22:17

I planned to feed dd for 3 months, then 6 months, then a year. She's two next week and still being breastfed although we're down to one feed a day and I'm hopeing to stop when she's 2(ish)

Wordsmith · 31/01/2006 22:18

Wanted to do it for 6 months, but only managed about 2.

rickman · 31/01/2006 22:19

Message withdrawn

koalabear · 31/01/2006 22:19

started off staying 3 months, then 6th months - DS ditched me at 7 months so the decision was taken out of my hands

dinny · 31/01/2006 22:20

that's how I feel with ds too, Rickman - just keep thinking "gerrofff me for two bloomin seconds!"

LucyJu · 31/01/2006 22:21

When I started with dd1, I vaguely assumed I would bf for 6 months. When I got to 6 months, I decided I would carry on until she was one year old when she would be able to drink cows milk. By the time I reached 12 months, I couldn't think of any particular reason to stop bf-ing so I carried on until dd1 lost interest at around 18 months.
With dd2, I am hoping to reach the 2 year stage. Rightly or wrongly though, I would only feed a child so old in the privacy of my own home. I'm not exactly comfortable about bf-ing in public now with a 3month old, for fear of attracting disapproving comments. I hate to think what sort of comments the act of bf-ing a toddler could potentially unleash...

Blondeinlondon · 31/01/2006 22:24

I hoped to make it to 6 mths, now about to hit the year mark

starlover · 31/01/2006 22:25

i wanted to go for at least a year with ds.
ended up at 4 months

mower · 31/01/2006 22:27

Am feeding ds at mo, is 4 months, was planning to feed for 6 months but now am thinking about carrying on for a year. Might sound like a stupid question, but how did the mums whos babies stopped wanted to feed at 7 or 8 months know they didn't want to and what did you give them instead of breat milk?

Racers · 31/01/2006 22:28

Gosh, lots of bf questions atm!

Well done making it to 6m! To answer your question - yes, an arbitary 3m, revised to 4m when read there are changes to digestion at this point. Then planned to replace feeds over 2m period. Things got better at 3m, as things settled and again at 4m when replaced bedtime feed with formula (not nec. a link!), so continued with just one ff a day. We are now at 7.5m and I feel very pleased that I stuck it out. No planned cut off. Would happily do morning feed in particular, for as long as DD wants.

ja9 · 31/01/2006 22:30

i was aiming for 12 mths. Ds now 17 mths and still bf. He has had 2 feeds a day since sometime between 9-12 mths (first thing and last thing). Neither of us have any desire to stop.... (but have set 2yrs as absolute limit!).

ja9 · 31/01/2006 22:31

programme tomorrow night at 9pm (ch4 i think)

yuck?!

trailer for prog almost made me heave (sorry, don't want to offend ).

motherinferior · 31/01/2006 22:33

Didn't really know with dd1 - stopped a lot earlier than I vaguely planned when pregnant.

With DD2 I was very determined to make it to six months exclusively, which I knew would involve expressing when I went back to work. At six months I decided I'd go for a year (with food obviously). At a year I decided to keep going with b'fing but send in prganic cows' milk when she was at the childminder, and some point over the next year or so we stopped completely.

Am proud.

Racers · 31/01/2006 22:34

oh 'eck - have you seen the other thread? 700+ posts!!

Spidermama · 31/01/2006 22:37

Respect Motherinferior!

motherinferior · 31/01/2006 22:40

Thank you.

I know it's shorter than some people but I am pleased. Especially since DP got rather anxious about it all, especially the expressing. I ignored him, as all right-thinking women do ignore their partners when talking b*llocks, obviously, but it was a bit of a strain.

MrsSpoon · 31/01/2006 22:44

With DS1 I wanted to feed him for 9 months (think I just plucked that figure out of the air, thought it sounded good), barely made it to 16 weeks (he had been mixed fed since 5 weeks). With DS2 I decided that if it was going well I would be happy to stop when he was, although I had little mini targets along the way. He stopped by himself at 16 months.

chipmonkey · 31/01/2006 22:57

With ds1, because of short maternity leave in Ireland, we were encouraged to bf "for at least 8 weeks" in our antenatal classes. Maternity leave was 14 weeks plus an additional optional (unpaid) 4 weeks. So when pg I decided I would bf for 8 weeks.
At some point after he was born I opted for 14 weeks. Then I read in a childcare book that "It is perfectly possible to work and breastfeed" So I learnt all about expressing. Fed ds1 for a year.
Decided to feed ds2 for a year too for the sake of equality.
Have decided to bf ds3 till 2. But who knows? Maybe I'll be on some Channel 4 show in 8 years time with ds3 hanging on to my nipple with his big teeth!

northender · 31/01/2006 23:01

Went to hell and back to get ds to bf. He was useless!! I had great support but he was just a difficult one. It took almost 2 months for him to get back to his birth weight and I have to say he never really thrived with bf but I persevered and did it for 6 months (with much respect from the midwives involved in the early stages!!). dd breast fed perfectly from day 1 and I also did 6 months with her but with much less stress! 6 months just felt right for me and by that time I was ready to stop and the babes seemed perfectly happy to be weaned to bottles.

Belo · 31/01/2006 23:02

With dd1 I bfed her exclusively until she was 6 months and I went back to work. I then fed her mornings and evenings. I carried on with that until she was 16 mmonths and she was no longer interested. She self weaned.

dd2 is currently 6 months and I've just gone back to work and hence cut back to feeds to morning and evening. I'll carry on for as long as feels right for both of us. The World Health Organisation recommends 2 years. If we can carry on for that long I will.

With dd1 lots of people thought it was wierd that I fed her for so long, but its nice having a cuddle and feed together at the beginning and end of everyday, esp. as I work full time.

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